[PMB] Long Range Scout Guide

The Scout: If you are a famous one, then you are not doing it right.

Greetings, people of Sarnut! My character name is Tohno, I used to play on a foreign server before the merge.
As the intro stands, I am a anonymous no-one, but a pretty good one! Maybe. That might be one of my favorite aspects of a scout, as a long-range DPS character, you should be quite inconspicuous when doing your role in group fights.

The last update wasn't as ground-shaking in matter of mechanics as the 5.0 attribute revolution or the 5.0.02 class updates. However it still brought some new stuff, and of course, new faces! Welcome again to the outside world, Pridens pals!
First lets discuss about the Pridens racial ability for scouts:

The Hunter's Arrow skill deals a small amount of damage, pushes the target by 5 yards and stuns it knocks back it for 2 seconds. It is like a second "precision shot".
It however has 35 energy cost and 1 minute Cooldown, so it is not as versatile as the "precision shot".

Some minor changes for rubies are also there, like a few extra rubies:

Adventurer: Generates extra stacks of "joker" which is used in defensive skills. Not one I would recommend, there is a max of 4 joker stacks and a easier way to achieve this amount.

Ammunition: There is a % chance after using a enchanted arrow to automatically re-enchant the respective arrow. Like the enchanted quiver it increases the number of shots you can use before running out of enchanted arrows, however it is luck-based and it is not that much useful as you can instead manually enchant arrows in the blink of an eye thanks to the Swift Fetching skill.

And of course some Nerfs! We all love Nerfs don't we? Those are the most relevant in my opinion:

Tesla Arrow now have 10 sec cooldown instead of 2.5 sec cooldown.
Medicinal Herbs now heal 40% of you HP, much better than before, making it a must have for PVP and PVE.

Defensive Skills

Defensive Skills Explanations: People Should Die When They Are Killed.

Recoil and Somersault are your primary reallocation skills, they trow you backwards up to 25~30 yards depending on which is maxed, knock-backs the target for 3,2~4,0 seconds, have a small cooldown, adds 2 joker stacks and consume little energy. However they can only be used in melee range. Like Mage's "Flash" this skill closes your foes target selection window, meaning they will have to re-select you in order to use single-target skills, it may give you extra time to breathe in PVP fights with lots of players.

Escape Artist removes most slow-debuffs from you and makes you immune to slow effects for the next 5 seconds, if you have the "quick march" ruby, you will get 80% speed boost during the same 5 seconds. You will mainly use it to run-away when targeted and also to chase targets on-foot.

Swingout makes you dodge most of the enemy skills for 5 seconds and reduces Damage Over Time damage by 80%. It basically makes you invulnerable to most damage, it does not consume energy and have a 70 seconds cooldown. Make sure to use it when you are in trouble, specially if you are being focused by many foes. Some skills like the Summoner's "Pandemonia" seem to break its defense.

Bolt consumes all your "Joker Effect" stacks when used, it then increases to 100% your parry chance for the next 1~4 attacks depending on the amount of Joker effect you had. It also decreases by 40% the damage over time you receive, it is basically another damage reduction skill, it is less effective than the Swingout but it last longer and does not share cooldown.

Medicinal Herbs consumes 40 energy to heal 40% of your max HP, it has 90 second cooldown. Use it when your HP is too low or when you leave combat and have energy to spare. It helps in PVE to reduce the dependence on healers and potions.

Smoke Cloud will hide anyone inside its area of effect from anyone. It should be used with caution for your enemies can benefit from it too, a healer from the outside should be unable to properly heal those inside the cloud and those inside the cloud can see other people inside the cloud as well.

Utility Skills Explanation

Those skills can serve you in a variety of ways, use your imagination!. . . Or at least your teammates commands.

Utility increases the target HP by 15~90%, being a must have in most group PVE and very usefull in PVP, it is one of the main reasons people are willing to accept scouts in their parties. However it only affects one player a time, so make sure not to re-cast it on you in such situations.

Tranquil Arrow Shot reduces the target speed by 5% for each stack, at lv 3 it adds 15 stacks. Every damage tick will reduce the accumulated stacks by 1 and reset its 15 second duration. It is not that useful to use in a foe that is being targeted by multiple people because it will fade away quickly. But when used with "Incendiary arrow" on a target that is out of combat it can pretty much render it immovable for quite some time. It consumes the respective enchanted arrow from the quiver.

Speed of the Dammed and Supernatural Speed will instantly relocate you behind your target, deal a moderate damage and increase your joker effect by 1~4. Use it to relocate you towards your target whenever it pleases you.

Precision Shot to the Legs deals a bit of damage and renders your opponent unable to do anything during 5 seconds, it is a useful skill to be used in many situations. It consumes the respective enchanted arrow from the quiver.

Onslaught increases both your move-speed and attack-speed, this increases damage from "Tesla Arrow" ,"Incendiary Arrow", Racial Damage Dealing Abilities, "Supernatural Speed","Finishing Shot" and reduces Cooldown and Energy cost from "Steady,Intuitive Shot","Double Shot","Ranging Shot" as well as allowing "Steady/Intuitive Shot","Double Shot","Ranging Shot","Finishing Shot" to be cast while moving. It is very useful in situations when you cant stop and shoot and it also adds your overall DPS during its duration.

Intensive Training increases your energy/mana regeneration by a fixed amount, it overwrites the Warden's skill "Natural Force" which has a similar effect but still different, Even so, make sure to cast it once and a while. By activating it, you buff close allies and increases their overall efficiency.

Caltrops makes your foe trips while walking in its area of effect, it can be very annoying for them in huge PVP fights but keep in mind that if a character under its area of effect stand still it wont trip.

Bag of Tricks makes your next 5 "Steady/Intuitive Shot", "Double Shot" and "Ranging Fire" to be cast instantly. It enables you to shoot while moving or even jumping, that way certain obstacles can be ignored and you might be able to shot past them. This same idea applies to all "Quiver" shot skills.

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "Kalenian" (Mar 29th 2015, 12:42am)

Ofensive Skills Explanations

Ofensive Skills Explanations: You are already dead, you just haven't caught up yet.

Those are your best skills when it comes to damage dealing, since this is your main role, make sure to optimize their use.

Steady Shot and Intuitive Shot, both are your basic attacks, they have low energy cost and low damage however they can be used to reduce the cooldown of your Double Shot skill. It is based on your attack speed, so its energy cost, cooldown and damage depends if you are using a bow or a crossbow.

Double Shot is your best damage dealing skill. It shots 2 arrows so it ticks certain effects such as Stone Barrier and Under Aim twice instead of once. It is based on your attack speed, so its energy cost, cooldown and damage depends if you are using a bow or a crossbow.

Ranging Fire marks your opponent adding 1 stack of "Under the Aim", each "Steady/Intuitive Shot" and aditional "Ranging Fire" will increase by 1 stack of this effect and each "Double Shot" will increase by 2. Each stack will increase by 3% your "Steady/Intuitive Shot" and "Double Shot" damage, it maxes at 8 stacks when it adds 24% extra damage. It is based on your attack speed, so its energy cost, cooldown and damage depends if you are using a bow or a crossbow. However its damage is so little, that using a bow is actually better for this skill, it would reduce its cost and help to charge "Under Aim" faster, giving a head-start over the crossbow.

Finishing Shot skill consumes all "Under Aim" stacks and deal damage based on how many "under Aim", I do not recommend using this skill, because when maximized, its damage is about the same as the "Double Shot" skill yet you would have to invest extra 5 talent points and 3 rubies in order to maximize it and would lost the "Under Aim" effect by using it.

Tesla Arrow is your main AOE damage skill, it deals a substantial amount of elemental damage, can be used instantly while moving (or jumping) and cost only 25 energy. Consume one of the respective enchanted arrow.

The Incendiary Arrow skill might be a bit tricky to use, when you use it in a target it deals a nice amount of fire damage and debuffs it which an Damage Over Time effect that lasts 12 seconds. Using it again during the DOT effect wont cause opening fire damage but will increase the DOT by 12 seconds, to maximize its effectiveness you should use it only in opponents that are not under the DOT timing. It has very low cooldown, no energy cost and consumes 1 of the respective arrow in the quiver.

This post has been edited 2 times, last edit by "Kalenian" (Mar 29th 2015, 12:50am)

Build Guide: If you walk down the patch you believe it is right, you cannot be wrong.

Build making is a very relevant factor in Allods online, even for a specialized ranged scout, you do not have enough rubies and talent points to max everything.
However there are a few tricks to maximize your efficiency at your builds.

1st - Take this pre-made build as a guide:This one have set talents and rubies that I recommend you to get. They work great for both PVP and PVE. There are still plenty of Rubies and Talents unaccounted for, the way you distribute those extra rubies will define if your build would be PVP or PVE.

2nd - Use a build Maker
Try to simulate some builds using certain programs such as this one: http://en.allodswiki.ru/. And remember that by paying a certain amount of in-game currency, you can reset later your build.

3rd - Read every skill effect
Every Ruby and Talent has a effect to it, make sure to read it before trying it. Asking for your mates for tips also helps.

4th - Sometimes it is not worth to max a talent or a ruby.
The difference of efficiency from lv 1 to lv 2 is usually bigger than from lv 2 to lv 3, thus it is not always useful to increase the lv of talents you wont be using as often.
Also, skills like "Somersault", "Supernatural Speed" and "Intuitive Shot" require you to have a certain lv in their pre-requisite skill, sometimes it is not worth at all to invest in them.
For instance: lv 1 and 2 somersault are as effective as lv 2 and 3 Recoil.
If you invest 6 points in Recoil, it will be at lv 3 and will have the same effect as a lv 2 somersault. In such regard, if you dont have enought talent points to increase somersault skill to lv 3, then do not increase it at all.
However the skill "Speed of the dammed" efficiency for a ranged scout is maximized at lv 2, thus instead of investing 3 points in "speed of the dammed" you should invest 1 point in "Speed of the dammed" and another 1 point in "Supernatural Speed".

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "Kalenian" (Mar 29th 2015, 3:51am)

This last topic is about certain maneuvers and tactics that you can use as a Scout such as combinations of skills and a short guide to PVP against other classes.

1st Skill combination: Ranging Fire > Double Shot > Steady/Intuitive Shot > Double Shot
Start this combination by using "Ranging Shot", follow using "Double Shot" and then "Steady/Intuitive shot" keep using "Steady/Intuitive Shot" until your "Double Shot" Cooldown is over.
You might as well use "Tesla Arrow", "Incendiary Arrow" and "Precise Shot" after a "Steady/Intuitive Shot" to maximize your DPS.
Using "Onslaught" after you use Ranging Fire will increase your damage substantially.
This is your basic DPS skill combination, make sure to optmize it.

2nd Skill Combination: Supernatural Speed > Somersault > Bolt
Chose a enemy target and use those 2 skills in sequence, keep in mind you will move in a straight line, so be careful with your landing. Once you used those 2 skills, you should have maxed your "Joker" effect granting you up to 4 stacks of the Bolt skill.
This is your main skill for running away from danger.

3rd Skill Combination: Tranquil Arrow Shot > wait 10 seconds > Incendiary Arrow Shot
It is a way to extend your Tranquil Arrow effect against a target that is not being targeted. Can be annoying to the point that some people might waste their Martyr protection on it.

PVP Tips: Do you know where you are going? If it is Hell, give the devil my best regards.

First of all, when going for group PVP fights, make sure not to stand in the front, try to stay behind your allies, however keep in mind that every opponent you face will have a different way to be dealt with, those are a few cases you should be aware of.

1st: Melee charactersBoth Warriors, Paladins and melee Scouts are likely to approach you if they want to actually damage you, so make sure to use "Somersault" to get away ASAP and bombard them with your CC.

2nd: MagesMages are delightful targets, low HP and mediocre range, even their defensive skills wont be as much use against a flurry of arrows. They do bite however, and bad make sure to use Bolt or Swingout if they try to combo you.

3rd: Medium RangedBards, Psyonicists, Druids and Engineers are likely to trow you their CC and run around you while they deal their damage. However unlike most other classes, their CC can be avoided.Bard's Romance Pull: Outrun its range, hide behind an obstacle or use "Smoke Cloud".Psyonicist Twin: Shoot it down and keep afar from the psyonicist, his CC abilities are limited.Engineer Trap: Shoot the trap down with your skills, take cover behind obstacles when he calls his cannon or hide behind the Smoke Cloud.
Druids Pets: Stay away from their pets, if needed try using a Tranquil arrow on them.

4th: HEaLersWelcome to hell, sometimes it just seems impossible to kill an experienced Healer alone before he kills you, but still lets give it a shot. Try to outdamage its healing while using every CC you have, Precision Shot, Caltrops, Somersault, everthing. Usually they will try to focus on healing their allies and themselves before fighting back, if you manage to annoy them with your skills, their allies are likely to be in trouble.

5th: SummonersThe healing of a Healer, annoying CC abilities and tons of damage, they are the bane of most players out there. Try to keep the "Bolt" skill effect ready to reduce its damage over time and avoid letting him drop your HP low enough to kill you with his Pandemia skill. Try to make him still by using your Tranquil arrows as much as possible. Using your dps skills might be useful as well to drop his Blood Aegis stacks forcing him to re-cast it.Don't hesitate in following him once he becomes untargetable, make sure to be the first one to dig a Tranquil Arrow or a Precise shot once the effect fades.

Final RegardsThanks for the "Dubstep Dragons" players for accepting me in their guild, thanks to EU Allods team for being able to run this amazing server and thanks to you, for your endurance in reading all of it.